The invention relates to a dispenser or discharge apparatus for media, more particularly for flowable media which may be gaseous, pasty or liquid, preferably powdery. Expediently in using it or in discharging the medium the dispenser is to be held or actuated single-handedly such that it is preferably suitable for suction or inhalation of the pharmaceutical active substances contained therein, so that they can be delivered e.g. to the mucous membrane of the nose. The dispenser may be made entirely of injection-molded or plastics parts.
The invention is based on the object of providing a dispenser which obviates the drawbacks of known configurations and which permits microvolume delivery by a dispenser which is simple to manufacture, assemble, handle, keep, or the like.
In accordance with the invention the individual delivery dose of the medium may be provided in a cupped or similar reservoir chamber substantially hermetically presealed so that it may be agitated as thoroughly as possible by an inlet/delivery flow on discharge of the medium to ensure the medium being emptied in one go totally from the reservoir cup exclusively through the medium orifice remote therefrom. The inlet flow may be formed by a medium of the aforementioned kind, more particularly however air, which flows into the dispenser from without, gaining access via passageways to the reservoir cup where a swirl or rotary flow is generated to mixingly entrain the medium stored therein and thus emerge as the delivery flow through the medium orifice into the atmosphere. Although the delivery flow could be generated by a pressure source or pump of the dispenser, a particularly simple configuration materializes when the inlet flow is generated by a suction flow in the outlet passage or in the reservoir cup, namely e.g. solely by the user inhaling through the medium orifice.
The reservoir chamber may comprisexe2x80x94like a blister packxe2x80x94a cupped body and as the reservoir seal a plastics film or metal foil, or the like, secured to the face side about the reservoir opening in the reservoir body, this film/foil possibly being configured single or multi-ply and secured expediently by bonding, such as hot sealing to produce a hermetic seal to prevent the medium from gaining access between the adjacent surface areas of the reservoir body and the sealing wall from the reservoir chamber. However, the reservoir chamber may also be a pump cylinder with or without a prefitted plunger into which on actuation a finger with or without plunger enters.
Prior to discharge of the stored dose of the medium this seal is opened by being ruptured, but without destroying the bonding or seal connection, more particularly so that it is merely slitted open without any debris of the seal becoming detached, i.e. instead all parts of the seal remaining securely attached to the reservoir body after opening so that they cannot be entrained in the flow to the outlet passage. For this opening action the dispenser comprises instead of the plunger, or in addition thereto, a tool, provided preferably at the inflow end of the outlet passage and able to work in two phases in sequence. In the first phase only the center of the sealing wall is urged into the interior of the reservoir chamber until it ruptures, after which the sealing wall is slit open radially to form several radial flaps of the sealing wall which in the second phase are splayed or defined by being clamped in place relative to the reservoir body, thus ensuring that even in the case of a highly flexible sealing film/foil a sufficiently large passage cross-section for the inlet flow materializes without the risk of the seal flaps reclosing or restricting the passage cross-section once the flow action is effective.
The volume of the reservoir chamber may be several times, e.g. at least two or three times, larger than the volume of the discharge dose stored therein so that already on commencement of discharge of the medium suitably large spaces are available for developing a swirl flow and the passage inlet or the inlet openings thereof are not fully covered by the medium on plunging into the reservoir chamber. The inlet flow gains access directly to the medium expediently through an annular passage defined by the reservoir chamber and/or an outlet nozzle, whereby on leaving the annular passage the inlet flow is directed as a kind of annular roller radially inwards and then back in the opposite direction into the outlet passage. The bottom of the reservoir cup which is concave over the full width of the reservoir chamber as well as the conically tapered end of the outlet passage serve as curved or inclined guiding surface areas for the reverse flow. During discharge of the medium these guiding surface areas are defined centered and stopped relative to each other to have so little freedom of movement that the definition of the cup chamber or bottom thereof remains out of contact. The flaps of the sealing wall define the passageways for the inlet flow within the reservoir chamber, however, from the opening of the reservoir up to the region of the guiding surface areas so that their ends are free to flutter in the air flow, whirling up the medium mechanically.
The dispenser receives the reservoir cup expediently totally in a housing which may be permanently fixed or movable relative to the medium orifice. Expediently the reservoir chamber is movable relative to the medium orifice, the outlet passage, the opening tool or the like, e.g. by being shiftable parallel to the centerline of the cup or pivotable about an axis parallel to the cup centerline. This pivoting or twisting axis is located radially totally outside of the reservoir chamber so that it may be translated from a location in line with the outlet passage into a location remote therefrom. It is this axial movement that enables the reservoir seal to be opened and the rotary movement enables the reservoir cup to be translated from a resting position into an operating position, the reservoir cup being unable to come into contact with the outlet passage in the resting position when the outlet passage is axially shifted.
The dispenser may comprise on a common reservoir body two or more reservoir chambers the same or differing in size which may be translated into the operating position or discharge position in sequence by one of the cited movements and thus emptied each separately in one go. These reservoir chambers are distributed to advantage uniformly about the axis of rotation, whereby between them a supporting or mounting appendage may be provided protruding beyond the bottoms of the cups and transmitting axial actuating forces directly to the reservoir body.
To facilitate piercing the reservoir wall or actuation for discharge of the medium the parts movable relative to each other for this purpose are expediently loaded via a pressure point, after the defeat of which the forces counteracting the actuation are substantially diminished throughout up to the stop so that the dispenser may be translated at relatively high speed into the end position of the stroke. The self-releasing resistive forces of the pressure point may be formed by a spring latch, a design break point or the like. The members releasing for this purpose by interengagement or by the actuating force may be, like anti-twist members, located in the region of the outer circumference of the reservoir body or be formed by the outermost circumference thereof so that the reservoir body requires no separate appendages or the like for this purpose.
The anti-twist members, by means of which the reservoir body is prevented from twisting out of place from the inner end of the outlet passage on discharge of the medium, may act positively throughout from the starting position of the reservoir body up to the end position of the stroke whilst still being releasable, e.g. by the two actuating units of the dispenser being telescopically extensible up to the mutual stop. In this arrangement the pressure point may be defeated in the opposite direction so that the actuating units are then located in the starting position in which they are stop-defined in both opposite directions, namely against being telescopically extended by a stop which is very difficult to defeat and against being telescopically retracted by the contacting sliding surface areas of the pressure point control which is substantially easier to defeat.
The dispenser may be configured miniature, e.g. fully clasped single-handedly circumferentially or surrounded lengthwise so that the discharge nozzle freely protrudes between two fingers of the hand. Its largest radial width is maximally 60 mm or 50 mm and its length maximally twice as large as compared to the latter may be maximally 90 mm or 70 mm. These dimensions like all mutual locational definitions may apply to both the starting position as well as the end position after the dispenser has been actuated.
These and further features also read from the description and the drawings, each of the individual features being achieved by themselves or severally in the form of sub-combinations in one embodiment of the invention and in other fields and may represent advantageous aspects as well as being patentable in their own right, for which protection is sought in the present.